Baby-friendly Seoul Korean BBQ in Gueui, open 11am to 2am: Sanggu's

Tot tot tot ๑◕‿‿◕๑

Near the Gueui Pullman Hotel, Gueui 3-dong Library, and the Techno Mart by the river, there's a sotttukkeong (cauldron lid) pork BBQ restaurant that runs with no break time, you know? Sanggu's Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal is a Gwangjin favorite, and if you stop by you can eat a well-rounded, filling meal. My 17-month-old and I recharged on meat again today. Let's go!

Where is Sanggu's Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal Gueui Branch, and what are the hours?

Sanggu's Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal Gueui Branch is on the 1st floor of 444 Achasan-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, and it runs daily from 11:00am to 2:00am with no break time. For parking, you can use the mechanical parking lot behind the building or a nearby paid lot.

• 📍444 Achasan-ro, 1F, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• ⏰Daily 11:00 – 02:00
• 🚘Mechanical parking behind the building or nearby paid lots
• ✨A Gwangjin favorite where you can grill premium 1+ grade Mungyeong yakdol pork sizzling on a cauldron lid
• 👼🏻Kids welcome / baby chair available / stroller access possible

Hi, I'm a blogger who loves photos and writing. Today my 17-month-old Hajun and I went out around the Gueui riverside area. Ever since the Pullman Hotel went up near Gueui Station, the whole neighborhood has gotten so much nicer. It's a good walking route all the way to Children's Grand Park too, so we sometimes play there with the baby and eat in Gueui-dong.

We headed out at 10am, read books with Hajun at Gueui 3-dong Library, and played at the playground right in front. Lately I've noticed he's able to be quiet and calm at the library — such a growth moment.

For lunch with the baby, we went to Sanggu's Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal, a Gwangjin favorite right in front of Gueui 3-dong Library. Their main branch is in Jayang-dong, and they're well known around here for Mungyeong yakdol pork samgyeopsal.

Why Sanggu's works with a baby: no break time and self-serve side dishes

Sanggu's Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal runs with no break time even on Sundays, so it's easy to drop by comfortably with a child. We sometimes have sotttukkeong samgyeopsal as a family meal, and sure enough, it wasn't just us — other families with kids and parents were dining there too.

The self-serve zone has unlimited bean sprout salad, kimchi, and bracken fern, all side dishes that go well with what's cooking on the cauldron lid. There are various other accompanying side dishes too, so feel free to help yourself.

Staff grill the pork belly and pork shoulder for you

The biggest perk of stopping by Sanggu's Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal, a Gwangjin favorite, is that trained staff grill the pork belly and pork shoulder cuts to just the right doneness. Aged pork really needs to be grilled crisp-outside, juicy-inside to bring out its true flavor, so having a pro grill it for you is a real treat.

About 10 free lettuce wraps and 1,900 won draft beer

Here you can also enjoy about 10 kinds of fresh vegetables for free. Sweet pumpkin, eggplant, lettuce, perilla leaves, even enoki mushrooms. They're brought in fresh from Garak Market every early morning, so the freshness is on another level.

What really wins people over at Sanggu's Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal is that you can get a cold, refreshing draft beer for ₩1,900. How could you pass that up? Let's go for a daytime beer.

Whenever Hajun spots a chili pepper he always feeds it to mom or dad. On days out like this, just the two of us eating together sweetly makes me so happy. ♥ Even if all I do is raise him as I get older, I won't have a single regret.

What we ordered at Sanggu's and what it cost

• Premium handmade quick-frozen pork belly, 1 serving ₩15,800
• Chewy pork (jjondeuksal), 1 serving ₩17,800
• Beef rib meat (sogalbisal), 1 serving ₩17,800
• Beer, 1 glass ₩1,900
• Rice, 1 bowl ₩1,000

Since I was eating with a 17-month-old, I ordered the beef rib meat for him, and chewy pork and cold pork belly for me. These cuts cook up quickly and are meant to be self-grilled, whereas the staff grill the pork belly and pork shoulder for you.

The cold pork belly especially looked great in color. These days it's basically a given that the two of us need at least 3 servings.

Beef rib meat as a side dish for the baby's rice

Beef rib meat is actually one of my favorite cuts too. It has a thick texture with a great meaty aroma. Try the beef rib meat at Sanggu's Sotttukkeong Samgyeopsal — dipping it in salt makes it even better. I cut it up small for my 17-month-old and mixed it into his rice, and he ate it well.

Grilling while feeding the baby makes eating out today feel like a whirlwind from east to west, but compared to having to deal with oil splattering everywhere and prepping side dishes at home, this is nothing. It's such an era of great dining-out culture — I really give it two thumbs up. ♥

Meat and side dishes cooking together on the 270-degree cauldron lid

Meat sizzling golden-brown on a huge cauldron lid heated to 270 degrees. On top, bean sprout salad, kimchi, and bracken fern cook together in the meat's rendered fat — this is exactly the flavor you get from cauldron-lid grilling! And frying leftover rice with the remaining side dishes on the lid is genuinely delicious — if I'd had my spouse with me, I would have done it, but sadly I couldn't manage it solo.

After a solid morning of parenting, this honey-sweet lunch had Hajun eating like a champ. You know how babies can be slow eaters sometimes...? Once I'd fed him enough, I finally got to eat properly myself.

Ahh... this is exactly why meat grilled on a cauldron lid is so delicious. The 3-day-aged Korean pork chewy cut pairs best with just a dab of salt, but I couldn't give up the fresh lettuce wraps, so I piled on garlic, chili, bean sprout salad, kimchi, and bracken fern for a proper bite. You've got to eat well to keep up with parenting.

The cold pork belly looked great from the start, and sure enough it had that signature nutty, rich flavor. It's on a totally different level from cheap cold pork belly — zero off smell, just pork's natural savoriness and just the right amount of nutty fat. Two thumbs up for sure.

After coming back to the neighborhood with him, we got a latte fix at Paul Bassett, rested at home, fed him dinner, and then took another evening walk along the Han River. Another successful, wonderfully romantic day of parenting... ♥